


Helen's Lament

by lucky13cat



Category: Produce 101 (TV), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Alternate Universe - Trojan War Setting (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Helen!Hangyul, Here at least, Lee Hangyul-centric, M/M, Paris!Seungyoun, Seungwoo is much better, Seungyoun is a dick, That's about as similar as it gets to the original Trojan War mythos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 20:36:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20841641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucky13cat/pseuds/lucky13cat
Summary: I have no idea where this came from, and I am so sorry to Seungyoun and Wooseok who I made horrible villains here. Please enjoy and please don't take this seriously.





	Helen's Lament

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this came from, and I am so sorry to Seungyoun and Wooseok who I made horrible villains here. Please enjoy and please don't take this seriously.

The most beautiful mortal alive. The one chosen by Aphrodite as a gift for her champion. A mortal who fell so deeply in love with the champion they left behind their people, their responsibilities, even their husband. The vain creature who allowed a war to wage on around them as they remained blinded by love.

Hangyul knows what is whispered about him. In the corridors of the palace or the fires of the enemy camp, it's all the same. They call him vain, stupid, and pathetic along with more colorful and vulgar language. They have made their minds up about him, and he cannot change the minds of man.

Nothing matters to anyone except that he’d gone willingly. They ignore the years and the changes wrought by time as they cling to their hardened judgment. Hangyul wastes no time on them. He has his own judgments.

Servants duck their heads and scurry away as he walks through the palace. He knows where they’re off to, knows what rumors they’ll spread. How the greatest beauty of their time begs for his lover to open the door, or how shameless he continues to act while men died on the battlefield.

Again, Hangyul wastes no time on them. They can spread their rumors. He has long given up on correcting anything the palace assumes. Let them believe he stills loves their prince. Let them believe that the prince keeps him out of a sense of duty. Hangyul knows the truth.

The prince’s rooms are as elegant as they are chaotic. Vases tossed to the floor, drapes ripped to shreds, a trail of damage that leads him directly to the prince.

Seungyoun.

Once Hangyul had loved the other so deeply it was as if he could not breathe without it being the other’s air. His love for him tangible and heady enough that it felt like a drug. He remembers how his sense would become tuned to Seungyoun the second the other stepped into the room. How he’d abandoned everything he’d ever known to follow Seungyoun’s smile.

Now, Hangyul can’t even bring himself to feel an ounce of that emotion. His heart had long since broken, and nothing, not even the goddess of love herself, could force Hangyul to gather the shards to make it whole again.

That did not mean the goddess did not try. She knew how Hangyul feared her, and she used that to her advantage. Hangyul was Seungyoun’s prize, and what kind of patron would she be if she allowed the prize to walk away, to stop being the champion’s?

Seungyoun’s anger is tangible, and Hangyul tenses as the other turns towards him. He wasn’t afraid of Seungyoun, he didn’t feel much for the other in general. Hangyul knows why Seungyoun rages so. Even he, the disgraced prize, had heard of Seungyoun’s failed duel. How Aphrodite had cheated with her protection, and Seungyoun had forever lost face to not just the enemy but to his country and family. Seungyoun was as prideful as he was beautiful, and this had to sting.

“The goddess summoned me,” Hangyul turns away from Seungyoun towards the balcony. If he tries, he can vaguely make out the shapes of the enemy camp. “Though I don’t know what for. You’ve destroyed the bed without my help.”

Seungyoun does not reply. Hangyul does not tense as the other stalks up behind him, but it is only because of practice. He turns slowly to meet Seungyoun’s eyes before turning his head away. Seungyoun pushes him to the edge of the balcony and traps him against the railing. Hangyul grips the railing with white knuckles and resolutely refuses to look down below. The whole city spreads out below them. Once Hangyul had enjoyed the view and how high up and away he was, now he does not.

“It would be wise for you to remember whose graces you should stay in,” Seungyoun growled at him. “The goddess brings you here because you belong to me, and I will it. All of that can change in a single moment. She would bring me anyone if I asked.”

“Then do it.” Hangyul grits his teeth and meets Seungyoun’s eyes. “Surely you do not truly believe that your affairs remain a secret. I hear the whispers behind the curtains when I arrive. I see the pretty toys you parade in and out of your rooms while men die on the battlefields below your gaze. I am beautiful, but I am not an idiot.”

Seungyoun’s nostrils flared and his fists clenched. He pulls away from the railing, and Hangyul keeps his posture straight and stiff as he steps away.

“Get on the bed,” Hangyul replies to Seungyoun’s demand with a stiff nod. He walks slowly to the bed, once their bed but no longer, and slowly removes his robes. The silks slide down his tan skin, and Hangyul closes his eyes allowing himself to live in the sensation as Seungyoun watches. Once his show is completed, he turns towards Seungyoun with an outstretched hand that the other ignores.

Their night goes as it usually goes. Hangyul knows he shouldn’t, but he allows himself to pretend. Pretend it is years earlier when love joined the two of them instead of duty, and Hangyul pleasured and was pleasured. When the war was worth it because Hangyul had Seungyoun and his love.

The daydream is shattered when Seungyoun reaches his climax and moans out a name.

“Wooseok!”

Hangyul goes cold. Seungyoun pulls out and flops onto the bed. The toll of his day quickly lulls him to sleep, and he doesn’t even stir as Hangyul stands up from the bed to leave. His silk robes feel like burlap upon his skin as he dresses. With as much poise and speed as he can, Hangyul leaves the room and heads down the long unending corridors of the palace.

Hangyul does not go back to his rooms. He is too restless. Sleep, who had so easily claimed Seungyoun, had abandoned Hangyul. So he wandered the gardens. He could hear distantly the voices and din of the nightly feast but did not go up the stairs to the dining hall.

Hangyul drifted through the flowers silently. Here he is below the walls, trapped within them unable to see the beach camp that his former people had created. Hangyul startles when he hears footsteps close in on him, but a small smile captures his lips when he sees who it is.

“I saw you wandering the rose bushes,” Seungwoo states simply as he comes up beside Hangyul. “And thought I’d join you.”

“Thank you,” Hangyul bows his head respectfully. Seungwoo offers his arm, and Hangyul gently takes it.

“You’ve been to see Seungyoun,” Seungwoo noted looking ahead of them. At Hangyul’s look, he continued. “You like to wander when you are lost, and nothing leaves you quite as lost as spending a night with my younger brother. What has he done now? Whatever it is I will force him to repent.”

“Nothing I haven’t already had done to me.” Hangyul states vaguely. Seungwoo sighs and shakes his head.

“He does not realize his actions have consequences, and he must learn to act like a prince. And a husband.” The last phrase is added as an afterthought, and it makes Hangyul laugh at the incredulity.

“He is as much a husband as he is a fighter.” Hangyul stares up at Seungwoo. “But I have learned to live with it. He does as he wishes, and with a goddess as his patron, all I can do is learn to not care about him and his affairs.”

“I had hoped that bit of gossip had not reached you.”

“The servants no longer care what I hear, and the royals never did. They brag about it, and I have learned to live with it.” Hangyul shrugged.

“But tonight, something new occurred, didn’t it?” Seungwoo phrases it as a question, but Hangyul knows it’s not.

“He called out for Wooseok while we were… together.” Hangyul finishes politely. Seungwoo curses, eyes bright with anger against the other prince. “I had known of their affair for some time, but it shocked me how deep it ran for him.”

“I am sorry Hangyul. You deserve better than him.” Seungwoo brings them to a stop and faces him. “If I could I would put a stop to this. Drag Seungyoun out of the gates and hand him over to finish what he’s started.”

“But you cannot,” Hangyul says sadly. He brushes a strand of hair away from Seungwoo’s eyes with a small laugh. “If you cannot control your brother, could you at least control your hair? How do you manage to see during battle with this mop hanging in front of your eyes?”

“With the power of Zeus,” Seungwoo jokes back. Hangyul stares up into his eyes and feels his heartbeat race. Seungwoo has the power to do what no other mortal on this earth can it would seem. He makes Hangyul love.

Hangyul opens his mouth to speak, but before he can get a word out, a shout interrupts him.

“Seungwoo there you are!” Hangyul turns to smile pleasantly at the intruder. Wooseok smirks delightfully as he walks up to them. “Your father wishes to see you. And then I want to retire for the night.”

Wooseok ignores Hangyul, and Seungwoo nods stiffly.

“Of course dear,” Hangyul keeps himself from flinching as Seungwoo addresses Wooseok. He's always manages to forget that the two are tied together in marriage even if it is as loveless as Hangyul's own. “Let me walk Hangyul back to his rooms, and then I will see to my father.”

Wooseok’s smirk goes sharp, and he levels a glare at Hangyul. After years spent sitting in royal courts with enemies and allies alike, Hangyul doesn’t even blink. He is not nor will he ever be afraid of Wooseok.

“Quickly,” Wooseok manages through gritted teeth before turning elegantly to walk back to the feast. Seungwoo sighs as soon as the other is out of sight.

“I’m sorry.”

“You say that a lot for someone who has never done anything to warrant it.” Hangyul smiles as Seungwoo begins to lead him out of the gardens. “Our marriages are not products of our will, but that of someone else’s. You are as much a victim as I am in this.”

“Still, I wish things could be different,” Seungwoo says as they pass out of the garden and into the palace building.

“But they are not,” Hangyul replies. He smiles up at Seungwoo. “Go to your father. I can find my way back to my rooms just fine. Goodnight.”

Seungwoo smiles sadly down at Hangyul, but Hangyul has always been good at faking smiles and happiness for others. He pushes Seungwoo towards the dining hall and turns towards his rooms. He waits until he’s back in his rooms before collapsing in a crying heap to his floor.

As he brushes his tears away, Hangyul stares out his window towards the beach. He can just make out the smoke of their fires, and he wonders what rumors and tales they will share tonight. He wonders how they will remember him. Will he be the helpless beauty abducted? Or will he be the temptress who enjoys the war?

Hangyul pulls his robes off and goes to sleep. It does not matter. He does not care what they think of him or what they say about him. He cannot change their minds more than he can change his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment and tell me what you think! :)


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